Earlier today it was announced that President Obama indeed would make an appearance at the United Nations Climate Change Conference being held in Copenhagen. The president is expected to announce his support to reducing emissions in the United States.
Numbers at a glance:
- Commit to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels over the next decade
- 83% reduction by 2050
- $173 per year estimate for a family of four as calculated by the Congressional Budget Office (Republications say it would be much more).
The article at Yahoo! says that EPA head Lisa Jackson would be attending as well as The Energy Secretary and Commerce Secetary.
The issue for our clients is how will the gas limits affect them?
Since talk began about EPA’s new requirements for monitoring green house gases (GHG) the writing was on the wall that this is but the first step down a path of limiting them. In light of the current economy is requiring companies to face additional regulatory burdens the right thing to do?
On the other hand though is the health and well being of not just company workers (as protected by OSHA), but the community as a whole. For example if you have a home owner that has lived in a house for many years, maybe even the house has been passed down for generations and all of a sudden a new manufacturing facility opens in a former corn field across the road is it fair to the home owner?
With the current US debate surrounding health care, would tighnting regulations related to greenhouse gases help to lower overall health care costs? From looking at the media’s reporting on the Copenhagen climate conference, I have been unable to find much in regards to data concerning actual health outcomes verses GHG emissions.
From our perspective we are continuing to improve our service offering to adopt to the ever changing regulations. As the GHG issues and other issues sounding carbon foot printing continue to grow globally KHA plans to be able to assist clients through these issues.
While we as a company are not currently taking a stand either way, we would like to help start a discussion among environmental health and safety professionals from around the country on this important matter.
